Nordic Certified ESG* Analysts Overview #6 – CESGA – Danske Bank taking off, distancing Nordea and dwarfing the other large Nordic banks also when including the CFA Sustainable Investing Certificate data.
The finance industry is suffering from the lack of genuine ESG analyst expertise. This challenge is growing more significant as climate change shows up, regulations become stricter and expectations from asset owners and other stakeholders rise rapidly. The potential costs of inadequate ESG risk management, ranging from climate costs, regulatory penalties and reputational damage to other adverse impacts on stakeholders, can be substantial.
There are numerous advanced ESG courses available that can elevate ESG beginners to a higher level of understanding. However, there is also a pressing need for formal ESG analyst education in asset management, capital markets and credit activities. We need experts who can generate comprehensive ESG risk research reports on investee companies, grounded in a deep understanding of ESG risks, rather than relying on the overly simplistic and superficial checkbox or number crunching approaches that are too common today due to lacking knowledge.
A challenge is that many professionals with ESG education are working in roles outside the core functions where it does a difference. To effectively integrate ESG risks into investment decisions and credit decisions, which is a requirement with fiduciary duty, specialised formal training and education is a necessity. Having an ESG-trained individual in roles like sales, reporting, or compliance does not help solving the real potential problems and costs.
To address this, portfolio managers, investment analysts and credit officers, need to add ESG to their formal educational base, preferably with certification from an international recognised organisation.
ESG risk assessment must be grounded in scientific analysis.
It is important to select ESG analyst courses that base their program om science and well proven theorems. The best indicator is the institutions that offer the training. But in the end only the content of the program including the training material can show how serious it is.
At sustainAX, we have had a closer look at where in the Nordics and in what companies we find Certified ESG Analysts (EFFAS). We have focused on the CESGA as it is the only education of ESG analysts for finance professionals we have found so far requiring a real case to be satisfactory solved during the examination to gain the certification. Therefore, we find it the most targeted for assessing individual knowledge of ESG relevant to investing.
New this time is that we have obtained some numbers for the Nordics for the closest contender, CFAs Sustainable Investing Certificate. Here is an interesting article describing the CESGA and comparing it to the CFA Sustainable Investing Certificate: https://300hours.com/cesga-certified-esg-analyst/. We have not integrated the CFA numbers fully throughout this article as we have less detailed information, it is therefore not directly comparable, see separate section below.
In this article we are ignoring the programs not targeting specifically ESG research and/or that we consider too expensive compared to the ~1200€ cost of the CESGA.
Since our last review in August 2024, not less than 199 new CESGA certifications have been awarded in the Nordics. The CESGA credential is gaining traction, with a growing number of global candidates sitting for the exam each quarter. It’s encouraging to see ESG analyst expertise expanding across the Nordics!
Certified ESG Analysts per country
Thanks to feedback from our readers, we have recognized that teams within organizations may be registered in one country for the exam while being located in another. We have now adjusted our approach to account for this.
Geographically, Sweden continues to lead with the highest number of CESGA certifications, holding 182 adjusted and 381 non-adjusted figures, consistent with our previous report. Relative to their population size Denmark, with 184 adjusted and 69 non-adjusted as well as Finland, with 131 adjusted and 104 non-adjusted, remain well ahead of Sweden. Finland has shown the lowest growth with 18% since the last review, while Denmark with 114% had the highest growth, both for adjusted figures.
Norway (with 77 adjusted and 44 non-adjusted CESGAs) continues to lag but seems to be stepping up. The gap between Norway and its Nordic neighbours, such as Finland and Denmark, is still significant. To match their levels, Norway would need to exceed 60-100 (adjusted) certifications. This slower uptake may be attributed to the delayed implementation of SFDR and EU Taxonomy regulations, which affects the focus on ESG, as well as the presence of alternative local solutions (discussed further below). It will be interesting to see if the number of CESGAs in Norway increases further, something we expect. With EU regulations, also relevant for Norway, demanding significant changes in asset management processes, especially in integrating ESG risks into investment decisions and credit decisions, there is an urgent need to continue building formal ESG expertise among portfolio managers, credit managers and analysts. The recent regulatory action from the Norwegian FSA, Finanstilsynet, is likely to drive this, as we have also seen in Denmark, but not yet really in Sweden.
Figure 1 – As registered with EFFAS (unadjusted for real location)
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025
Figure 2 – As registered with EFFAS (unadjusted for real location)
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025
Some “Nordic” CESGAs moved out of the Nordics to other European countries. A certain number of CESGAs we have not been able to identify, often a combination of them not adding the CESGA certificate to their LinkedIn profile and for names with many hits.
Certified ESG Analysts per company – Huge jump by Danske Bank
At the company level, Danske Bank holds a more and more significant share of the CESGA certifications in the Nordics, accounting for 30% of the total (173 out of 589 identified CESGAs, adding 84). This now places Danske Bank well ahead of the second-largest holder, Nordea, which has 86 CESGAs (adding 11). Danske bank has taken a giant leap to distance all other companies in the list. This is signalling a clear strategic action with significant budgets supporting it.
Figure 3 – Evolution of CESGAs among the large Nordic banks
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025
Actually, due to a restructuring at Danske Bank, 14 CESGAs left the company while Nordea only lost 7 since last time. They also recruited CESGAs, 4 and 5 respectively.
Relative to their staff size, Ålandsbanken, Nordic Credit Rating, Movestic also stand out, with 8 (-3), 8 and 5 (+5) CESGAs, respectively.
New additions to the list with at least 2 CESGAs include Movestic, S-Bank, AP Pension, Realdania and Zealand Pharma.
From the previous reviews, new entrants were Alfred Berg, Lærernes Pension, WIP Asset Management, Akademiker Pension, NEFCO, EY, Nordanö, Local Tapiola, Position Green and Länsförsäkringar. These organizations are part of a growing group that recognizes the importance of enhancing ESG analyst competence.
A crucial differentiator is whether the ESG focus is on reporting or on the investment or credit process. At sustainAX, we recommend prioritizing the development of competence and practices within investment and credit teams where decisions are taken, allowing ESG reporting to evolve naturally thereafter.
Figure 4 – EFFAS CESGAs per company for those with 2 or more CESGAs
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025
The total numbers do not align with the country-specific figures due to our inability to map all individuals to their respective companies. When a CESGA changes employer, it affects the total count for the company involved.
Nordic CESGA moves
Since the August 2024 review, 26 CESGAs have moved to new companies and 17 transitioned to another company within the Nordic region. Notably, we observe movements are among financial companies, a change from last year where we saw quite some CESGAs moving into the corporate sector. Is the corporate sector spending less resources now because of the ongoing EU Omnibus that we know will remove sustainability reporting requirements for most of companies that expected to be regulated by CSRD?
What do the CESGAs work with and is this very different for Danske and Nordea, the by far two biggest?
For the second time, we have mapped what the Nordic CESGAs actually work with. Of course, this is based on public information that sometimes can be incomplete, but a best effort has been put to work to make this as correct as possible. A CESGA can be in several categories, for instance both “Pure ESG role” and “Asset management”.
Figure 5 – What kind of jobs do the CESGAs have?
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025
As can be seen above it is really in Asset Management and in Internal – Corporate functions that this certification is widely spread. Many on the corporate side, work in banks particularly on the credit risk side. Those in Pure ESG roles represent only 16% of the identified Nordic CESGAs, showing that there is an understanding that all need relevant ESG competence, not only the specialists.
Looking deeper into the two largest companies when it comes to employees with the CESGA, Danske and Nordea, we see a notable difference that may well reflect a strategic difference.
Figure 6 – The jobs of the CESGAs in Danske Bank and Nordea
Source: EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, the percentage is of all CESGAs of respective bank.
As can be seen above while Danske clearly has been working in the CESGA in their asset management division representing not less than 64% of all their identified CESGAs. Nordea looks to have concentrated this to Markets, Corporate Banking and internal corporate, representing not less than 79% of their identified CESGAs. Of course, due to Danske Banks much larger absolute numbers they are at par with Nordea in Corporate banking and internal corporate functions.
NEW – Nordic CESGAs versus Nordic CFAs Sustainable Investing Certificate
We have this time obtained from the CFA Institute some numbers with regards to Nordic holders of their Sustainable Investing Certificate (CFA SIC), precisely new holders per year, 4 years back. In the following there are some weaknesses that needs to be outlined; 1) The CFA numbers we have are “registrations”, we’re not sure this is the same as successful certification, but we presume so, 2) and they are per calendar year, this is not the case for the CESGA numbers as we do our overview in the fall each year, we have therefore adjusted the CFA numbers for 2025, multiplying by 12/9 and then presume this is comparable. We miss the total number of Nordic CFA SIC holders as we do not have the numbers for 2019-2021.
Anyway, while hoping we can get more comparable numbers going forward addressing these weaknesses, we attempt to compare the Nordic uptake of the two.
What we can show with the warning of the weaknesses above is how many new ESG analyst certifications we have in total for the Nordics each year and per country. And this is surprising as we see very different trends for the two providers.
Figure 7 – Total new Nordic ESG analyst certifications per year
Source: CFA Institute, EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, CFA SIC numbers are adjusted up linearly to estimate a 2025 full year, by factor 12/9
While the CFA certificate seems to have had higher historic annual registrations, the CESGA has more than caught up with a clear outgrowth in Sweden and Denmark.
The more important to retain here though is that together well above 200 persons per year in the Nordics have gained important and relevant ESG skills for investment and credit activities!
What we also see is that one institution, Danske Bank explains around a third alone for 2025 and we can exclude with high probability that any other large bank has made a significant effort to increase relevant ESG skills among their employees that involves any of these programs. Let’s hope they have another solution for this that we would of course like to hear about. Otherwise, it would be worrying.
Figure 8 – Total new Swedish ESG analyst certifications per year
Source: CFA Institute, EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, CFA SIC numbers are adjusted up linearly to estimate a 2025 full year by factor 12/9
Figure 9 – Total new Danish ESG analyst certifications per year
Source: CFA Institute, EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, CFA SIC numbers are adjusted up linearly to estimate a 2025 full year by factor 12/9
Figure 10 – Total new Finnish ESG analyst certifications per year
Source: CFA Institute, EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, CFA SIC numbers are adjusted up linearly to estimate a 2025 full year by factor 12/9
Figure 11 – Total new Norwegian ESG analyst certifications per year
Source: CFA Institute, EFFAS, sustainAX, October 2025, CFA SIC numbers are adjusted up linearly to estimate a 2025 full year by factor 12/9
Conclusion – ESG Competence Gap
Well done to Danske Bank for its commitment to enhancing ESG competence and maintaining its lead in total CESGAs. Nordea also deserves mention as a strong second, albeit now lagging, and together, these two banks are in a league of their own. Notably, Ålandsbanken, in third place, and Nordic Credit Rating, in fifth place, have successfully certified a significant portion of their relevant employees.
What sticks out is also what we do not find in the numbers, the other large Nordic banks have very few CESGAs; Swedbank, Handelsbanken, SEB, DNB, savingsbank groups, etc. Not even when including the CFA Sustainable Investing Certificate. Have they selected other ways to approach this or is it still to come?
We are puzzled by the different profile of the CESGA groups in Danske and Nordea and would like to hear more about the strategies behind so different outcomes.
For our colleagues in Norway, we strongly encourage taking on the ESG analyst certification challenge now. While there is a course organized by NHH (Norges Handelshøyskole) and Forening for Finansfag that EFFAS considers equivalent in content, it does not include an exam. We recommend also signing up for the CESGA exam, which is available for free, to gain formal certification and enhance your ESG expertise.
To address the competence gap in ESG research and risk integration, asset managers and banks need formally educated ESG analysts. We recommend that all portfolio managers, investment analysts and credit managers planning to work in this field enrol in relevant educational programs. Ensure that the education is tailored specifically to investment and credit decisions, internationally recognized, and ideally leads to certification. This approach will help build a solid foundation for understanding and applying ESG principles effectively.
Certainly, earning a certification is just the beginning. True expertise in ESG risk research and risk integration develops through practical experience. At sustainAX, we believe that performing at least 100 validated individual ESG research assignments is essential before one can advance to the level of a Senior ESG Risk Analyst. This hands-on experience is crucial for deepening knowledge and honing skills in the field. Even among the sustainAX Senior ESG analyst there are daily discussions around the ESG research we are doing on different companies, particularly on the ESG risk side.
Let us know what you have done or plan to do to increase the ESG competence in your company! Maybe you have chosen another way?
How sustainAX can assist you in the ESG risk field
1 – ESG risk integration training
We train portfolio managers and analysts in ESG risk integration, a teach-in series partly on-site, including practical workshops where we dig into real cases, of which some are chosen by the client to make it very relevant. This is a nice compliment to the CESGA and alternatively a great preparation for the CESGA exam, particularly the case part that most CESGA students worry about.
2 – ESG risk integration process installation
We can assist in building ESG risk integration processes to ensure that there is real action on the ground (who does what, how and when), and not only words on the web to “satisfy” SFDR or other regulation.
3 – ESG risk research and ESG risk rating
And of course, should you not have ESG risk research and ESG risk rating on all your portfolio holdings, we can help you fill the gap so that we combined with global providers like for example Sustainalytics, take you to 100% ESG risk rating coverage. We have ESG risk rated over 350 companies since we started our activity early 2021, some of them 5 years in a row.
4 – AI driven ESG risk research platform – “Made by ESG analysts for ESG analysts”
For those wanting to make their own ESG research and ESG rating, we are about to release to the market the possibility to use our own ESG research platform fully tailored to your own ESG research and ESG rating process.
*Environmental, Social and Governance factors
